Glorious Goodwood in 2024 – The Races, Runners and Riders

Posted by Harry Kane on Friday, May 24, 2024

The end of July will see the commencement of Glorious Goodwood, which will once again feature five days or high quality and sun-kissed horse racing. This stellar meeting hosts 36 races over the course of the five days, including coveted Group 1 events such as the Sussex Stakes, Nassau Stakes and iconic Goodwood Cup.

As usual, many of the best runners, riders and trainers will be in action at Goodwood this summer, including Royal Ascot Gold Cup winner Kyprios, Henry Longfellow and Notable Speech. But what are the standout races and potential talking points at this years’ Glorious Goodwood Festival, and what do you need to know about the venue’s iconic racecourse?

Glorious Goodwood 2024 – The Schedule

Now known as the Qatar Goodwood Festival, Glorious Goodwood commences in earnest on Tuesday, 30th July this year. It will conclude with a fifth and final day of racing on Saturday, August 3rd, by which time 36 races and three G1 outings will have been contested. So, let’s take a look at the early schedule for Goodwood this year and the standout race on each individual day.

• Day 1 (Tuesday, 30th July): Day one kicks off with the Qatar Goodwood Cup, which is the first G1 race held at the festival and sees runners compete for a winners’ cheque in excess of £300,000 (the total prize fund exceeded £500,000 in 2023). A total of seven races are usually scheduled for day one.
• Day 2 (Wednesday, 31st July): Day two features another Group 1 race, in the form of the similar iconic and even more lucrative Qatar Sussex Stakes. This boasts a prize fund of more than £1 million and is one of the richest races in the UK, with the winner banking £567,100 on behalf of their owner. This day tends to attract a great deal of attention and is often attended by celebrities.
• Day 3 (Thursday, 1st August): The middle and third day of Glorious Goodwood in 2024 features the festival’s third G1 race: namely the highly competitive and coveted Qatar Nassau Stakes. This is another major attraction for fans and bettors alike, while it should also be noted that day three is ‘Ladies Day’. Everyone dresses in their Sunday best here, and there are even prizes handed out for the best dressed attendees.
• Day 4 (Friday, 2nd August): The highlight of day four is the Group 2 King George Stakes, which is another high value and prestigious event. It has been won previously by some of the most iconic sprinters in the sport’s history, including Lochsong, Choisir and Battaash. Day four also features some wonderful food and live music throughout, so it’s popular among a huge demographic of visitors!
• Day 5 (Saturday, 3rd August): Last, but not least, we come to the fifth and final day of the festival. This is commonly referred to as the ‘Stewards Cup Day’, as it plays host to the prestigious Stewards Cup. This is a six-furlong flat handicap race, and one that’s often contested by the best sprinters. It’s also arguably the most popular race among fans and riders alike. Like day four, you’ll also find plenty of live music and diverse entertainment on Stewards Cup day!

A Look at the Goodwood Course – What to Expect?

The Goodwood course is one the premier flat tracks in Britain, while it’s based five miles north of Chichester in West Sussex. It has certainly hosted some incredible battles and races down the years (referred to as ‘Duels on the Downs’), most notably the epic tussle between a three-year-old Frankel and Canford Cliffs back in 2011.

This course is right-handed and undulating, while there are two bends in total. All races up to a mile and a quarter (including the six-furlong Stewards Cup) use the lower bend, while those in excess of seven furlongs (like the G3 Glorious Stakes) leverage the top bend. The turns and pronounced downhill gradients here make Goodwood an enduringly sharp track, and one that favours handy types over shorter distances.

The five-furlong course is also one of the fastest in the country, lending itself to the best and most accomplished sprinters. Overall, Goodwood is a notoriously tricky course, where runners who are held up tend to find trouble in the straight (especially when they’re pinned to the rail). The ground at Glorious Goodwood is often good-to-firm or firm too, due to the fact that the festival is held at the height of summer.

The Best Performing Jockeys and Trainers at Goodwood

Before we appraise some of these years’ key races and runners, let’s consider some historic performance data from the Goodwood track. More specifically, we’re going to appraise the best performing jockeys and trainers at the course during the last five seasons, including races held all year round at the venue!

Who are the Best Performing Trainers at Goodwood?

We’ll start with trainers, some of whom have fielded hundreds of runners since 2019 while others have featured less sparingly but with considerable success. There are a number of familiar names who have fared incredibly well at Goodwood during this period, but here’s our pick of the top three performers!

• Andrew Balding: Balding has fielded an incredible 279 runners during the last five years at Goodwood, earning 124 placed finishes at a success rate of 44%. He has also fielded 16 winners in total (16%), although he hasn’t enjoyed much success in any of the Goodwood Festival’s Group 1 races. Still, he has maintained an incredibly high rate of success despite fielding a huge number of runners, and it’s always worth keeping your eyes peeled for Andrew Balding runners at Goodwood.
• Charlie Appleby: Although Charlie Appleby has only fielded 66 runners at Goodwood during the previous five seasons, he has recorded more winners than Balding (18). This equates to an outstanding win rate of 27%. He has also fielded 39 placed finishers, at the even more impressive rate of 59%. He has also achieved one win and one placed finish in just two attempts in the G1 Nassau Stakes and Goodwood, so he’s another trainer to watch closely here this summer.
• Aidan O’Brien: Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien always saves his best for the biggest races, and his record in G1 events at Goodwood is incredible. His horses have won four of the last 20 Sussex Stakes iterations and placed on a further 10 occasions, while has fielded three victors and four places in the Goodwood Cup. He’s the most successful trainer in both races since 2004. He has also fielded three winners of the Nassau Stakes in the previous 20 renewals, and tends to be as successful as he is prolific wherever he goes!

A Look at the Best Performing Jockeys

Of course, trainers are just one half of the team that produce winning runners at Glorious Goodwood and similar tracks. Jockeys also play a key role and can often make a real-time difference between the success and failure of runners. So, here’s our pick and analysis of the best performing riders at Goodwood since 2019!

• Oisin Murphy: Oisin Murphy has raced a staggering 242 runners at Goodwood during the previous five seasons, triumphing 46 times and compiling a win-rate of 19%. Incredibly, he has also placed on 128 occasions and 53% of the time, so he’s one of the most consistent and reliable jockeys here. He is also one of just five riders to have recorded multiple wins in the Sussex Stakes since 2004 (two), while he has also placed twice in this race from just five attempts. He has won once and placed twice during the previous 20 iterations of the Nassau Stakes.
• William Buick: Next up is William Buick, who has a higher win rate than Murphy from his 183 outings at Goodwood since 2019. In fact, he has recorded 40 wins during this period, achieving a win-rate of 22% in the process. He has compiled 80 placed finishes too, finishing in the top four 44% of the time. Buick has shone in the Nassau Stakes too, claiming three wins and three placed finishes in just eight outings since 2004. Although he hasn’t been able to win the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood during the same period, he has finished in the places on two occasions from six attempts.
• Jim Crowley: Now we come to Jim Crowley, who has the distinction of being the most successful jockey in the Sussex Stakes over the course of the last 20 iterations. More specifically, six of his eight runners have finished in the places during this time and three have gone on to win. He has also ridden 11 horses in the Goodwood Cup and recorded a single win and two placed finishes during the same period. Overall, he has won 26 times in 176 outings at Goodwood since the beginning of the 2019 season (15%), while this jockey has also placed on 61 occasions and 35% of the time.

Glorious Goodwood Betting Tips and Insights for 2024

At this stage, all that’s left is to take a sneak peek at the upcoming Glorious Goodwood Festival and its scheduled G1 races. Remember, there are three such events at Goodwood, with the leading sportsbooks having already published their odds ahead of these rivals. So, here’s our brief analysis of these races and the key betting insights that can help to inform your picks!

• Qatar Goodwood Cup – The odds suggest that this could be a two-horse race: between two-time Ascot Gold Cup winner Kyprios and Trawlerman (who only lost by a single length to the O’Brien-trained runner at Royal Ascot earlier this month). The trend factors are in favour of the ante-post favourite Kyprios, with 13 of the last 20 Goodwood Cup iterations being won by the runner that was first in the betting market. This is the single most telling trend factor that has produced the highest LSP since 2004, so Kyprios offers value here while Trawlerman is an appealing each-way bet.
• Sussex Stakes: The 2024 Sussex Stakes will see Richard Hannon’s Rosallion resume his rivalry with Henry Longfellow, after the two embarked in an epic race in the G1 St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot. Rosallion prevailed by just a neck here and starts as the ante-post favourite ahead of O’Brien’s talented runner. The most telling factor in the Sussex Stakes since 2004 is when runners had two starts in the previous 90 days, with this favouring Henry Longfellow (who raced at Longchamp in May before heading to Royal Ascot). He definitely offers value at least as an each-way bet at Goodwood!
• Nassau Stakes: Ralph Beckett’s Bluestocking is the ante-post favourite in the Nassau Stakes, having won superbly in the G2 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Middleton Fillies’ Stakes at York in May. He also won over one mile on his debut at Salisbury in September 2022, while it should be noted that more than 10 winners of the Nassau Stakes since 2004 ran over seven furlongs on their debut. He’ll be pushed hard by Inspiral and Opera Singer, although the former disappointed in the G1 Prince Of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot recently. She placed sixth in a field of 10 here, eventually trailing winner Auguste Rodin by 6 ¾ lengths.

The Last Word

So, there you have it: our detailed guide to the 2024 Glorious Goodwood Festival. This year’s festival is set to be as exciting and entertaining as ever, especially with stellar runners like Kyprios, Rosallion and Bluestocking already entered into the event’s various G1 races. Whoever and however you choose to bet this year, be sure to compare the betting insights we shared above ensure that you make the most informed picks possible!